The present invention relates to the field of guidewires and, more particularly, to positioning of guidewires in a living body.
Guidewires are often used in a variety of different medical procedures. For example, guidewires are used to position catheters in a lumen of a patient body, such as a patient's vasculature, bronchial branches, and the like, to facilitate stent deployment.
When guidewires are used in such medical procedures, a leading end portion of the guidewire is normally introduced into the patient's body through a naturally occurring orifice, or an incision, or the like. Where the guidewire is to be inserted into the patient's vasculature, for example, a hemostasis valve is used to block, or at least reduce, the flow of blood from the patient's vasculature. In such a case, the guidewire is typically introduced into the patient's vasculature through the hemostasis valve.
After having been introduced into the patient's body, the leading end portion of the guidewire is navigated through body lumens until a leading end of the guidewire is positioned at an area of interest. Navigation of the guidewire through the body lumen is often achieved by means of appropriate imaging techniques, such as fluoroscopy.
Naturally, the length of the guidewire to be introduced into the patient body to perform the medical procedure is determined by the distance between the point of entry, such as the hemostasis valve, and the area of interest, through the body lumens, or vasculature, between the point of entry and the area of interest. After a guidewire is appropriately positioned within the patient body, a trailing end portion of the guidewire typically extends out of the patient body from the point of entry. It has been found that the trailing end portion of the guidewire outside the patient body can be rather difficult to manage and can interfere with the efficiency by which the medical procedure to be performed is performed. This is especially true when more than one guidewire is being used during the medical procedure.
More than one guidewire is often used when, for example, stents are used to treat diseased vessels at or near a bifurcation (branch point) of a vessel. In such a case, the medical practitioner performing the medical procedure may confuse the trailing end portions of the guidewires protruding from the patient body with one another.